Mass-Market Magazines Show Improved Ad Sales

Monthly magazines’ ad-page numbers for 2009 are starting to trickle in, and there are a few bright spots. Despite a dismal ad climate, a handful of magazines have more ad pages in December 2009 than a year ago. Some magazines even ended the year with an overall increase in ad pages.

In general, it is not the elite titles that are faring better. Meredith, the Des Moines-based publisher of magazines like Family Circle, had several magazines that did better this year than last year. InStyle and Glamour, which carry a wider range of advertisements than some of their higher-end competitors, posted ad-page increases in their December issues, as did Real Simple, Southern Living and Cooking Light.

These numbers are released by the publishers rather than by an audited service, which means they are not final, and they can be subject to some adjustments: publishers might include or exclude special-issue comparisons if it seems to help the numbers, for instance. Still, it offers a general gauge of the advertising.

One reason for those increases: food advertising. Brands like Heinz and Hellmann’s are increasing their ads, , trying to raise market share at a time when more people are cooking at home. In the third quarter, magazine advertising in every category except food declined compared with the third quarter of last year, according to Publishers Information Bureau. Ad pages about food and food products rose by 3.9 percent to 3,014 pages.

Several Meredith several magazines increased their ad pages in 2009 compared with 2008. Family Circle increased pages 12 percent, Fitness 9 percent, Ladies’ Home Journal 3 percent, and Better Homes & Gardens and More 2 percent. The December issues had huge increases at Better Homes & Gardens, where ad pages were up 42 percent to 176 pages, and Ladies’ Home Journal, where pages increased 29 percent to 123 pages.

Meredith’s Parents and Traditional Home both fell in 2009, by 10 and 7 percent respectively.

At Time Inc., third-quarter advertising revenues fell $129 million, or 22 percent, in the third quarter compared with a year ago, the parent company Time Warner said in its earnings report last week. That decline led to layoffs of an estimated 400 to 500 people at Time Inc., which began last week; Time Inc. closed Fortune Small Business last week as well.

Still, some December Time Inc. issues had increases.

InStyle’s pages were up 4.7 percent for the December issue versus a year ago; it was also one of the only fashion magazines with a bump in the prominent September issue. For the year, InStyle’s pages were down about 16.5 percent from a year ago.

People Style Watch also posted good numbers, though as a relatively new entry it has easier year-over-year comparisons than the more established magazines. Its December issue pages were up 30.3 percent, to about 86 pages, while full-year pages were up 23.3 percent, to 623 pages.

Essence’s full-year pages were down 10 percent, while the monthly People en Español’s were down 22 percent.

The Time Inc. magazines Real Simple, Southern Living, and Cooking Light all had December ad-page increases, of 33 percent, 34 percent, and 27 percent, respectively.

Condé Nast’s Glamour had a 6.6 percent rise in pages for December. For the full year, Glamour was down about 17 percent.

Condé Nast, which also publishes Vogue and Vanity Fair, declined to release its numbers as a whole. Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., which publishes Elle and Car and Driver, also declined to release information.

Hearst declined to give specific numbers, but the publishing director, Michael Clinton, estimated that through the end of the year, its magazines would be down compared with last year. Six Hearst magazines had ad-page increases in December, he said: Good Housekeeping, House Beautiful, Marie Claire, Country Living, Cosmopolitan and O, the Oprah Magazine.

A version of this article appears in print on November 9, 2009, on page B5 of the New York edition with the headline: Mass-Market Magazines Show Improved Ad Sales. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe